Are Georgia Republicans hooked on government spending?
One of Washington’s biggest controversies this week is the new military budget proposed by the Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The media seems confused over whether the new defense budget is an increase or decrease over last year (it’s a small increase), but facts aside, charges and counter-charges are flying about the Obama administration’s commitment to defending the nation. One unmentioned issue underlying much of the debate, however, is the degree to which certain parts of the country depend on military spending for economic growth — and how that’s influencing the debate over the military budget. Case in point: Georgia. One of the key provisions of the Pentagon’s proposed budget is to freeze production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet — a plane dreamed up during the Cold War era (1981) but not put into production until 2003. Secretary Gates has never been a big fan of the F-22, thinking it was largely irrelevant to the kind of wars the U.S. finds itself in today. As Time reported l
